If your dog’s shaking his head or scratching his ears constantly, it could be a dog ear yeast infection. One or both of his ears might have a yeasty smell, or black-brown gunk caking the insides. When your dog’s ears are crusty, smelly and inflamed, it’s a warningsign of a bigger health issue …
Read on to learn how to look beyond your dog’s earsto find the problem … and the solution.
What Are Ear Yeast Infections In Dogs?
This type of yeast infection affects the visible part of your dog’s ear. Inflammation in the outer flap of your dog’s ear is called otitis externa.
A dog ear yeast infection may be mistaken for allergies. But it’s often caused by yeast. It could be candida, the most common type of yeast … but it might also be malassezia, a different type of yeast. Yeast can smell musty … a bit like an old shoe. Your dog’s itching will be intense, and there may be a brown or black discharge. (Wipe the inside of the ear with a cotton ball or pad to see if it comes out brown and greasy.)
Before we dive into symptoms and natural remedies for dog ear yeast infections, we need to rule out two other possible culprits for your dog’s ear issues: bacterial ear infections and ear mites. These both share some common symptoms with dog ear yeast infections.
Dog Ear Infection Yeast vs Bacterial
Here’s how to tell the difference between bacterial and yeast ear infections in dogs:
Yeast Infection: Yeast thrives in warm, moist environments and can multiply rapidly in your dog’s ear canal, leading to inflammation and itching. The giveaway here is the distinct “yeasty odor” accompanied by dark brown or black discharge.
Bacterial Infection: A bacterial infection in your dog’s ear is usually the result of an underlying issues like allergies or an injury that creates an ideal environment for bacteria to flourish. In this case, the discharge from a bacterial infection is typically yellow or green.
Dog Ear Yeast Infection vs Ear Mites
Here’s how to tell the difference between dog ear yeast infections and ear mites.
Yeast Infection: A dog ear yeast infection often includes symptoms like itching, redness, a yeasty odor, and dark brown or black discharge. Yeast infections are not contagious to other animals or humans.
Ear Mites: Ear mites are tiny parasites that infest a dog’s ear canal. Ear mites are highly contagious and can spread to other pets in the household. Common signs of ear mites include excessive scratching, head shaking, dark, crumbly discharge resembling coffee grounds, and visible mites in the ear canal.
Dog Ear Yeast Infection Symptoms
Here are some common signs of dog ear yeast …
Swelling, sometimes with redness, inside the ears
Large amounts of dark brown waxy discharge
Very itchy, with constant scratching
Drooping ears
Strong smell from the ears
Sometimes painful and inflamed
Head shaking or tilting
Scabs and thinning fur around ears (from scratching)
You might also see signs of malassezia or other yeasts on other moist parts of the body, like the groin or armpits …
Small red bumps
Flaky grey crustiness
Orange-peel or darkened, thickened skin
Redness between the toes
Brown crud on top of the toenail
Causes Of Dog Ear Infections
What causes dog ear infections?
A yeast infection in a dog’s ear isn’t just superficial. Your dog’s yeasty ears stem from yeast overgrowth in your dog’s body. Yeast is present in healthy ears, but there are a few factors that can cause it to grow out of control.
Diet Any processed kibble diet worsens yeast because carbohydrates create sugars that feed yeast. And that’s especially true of candida yeast.
Oily Or Moist Skin Malassezia yeast is a bit different. It’s lipophilic, meaning it likes fats (lipids). That means dogs with oily skins or coats are more prone to malassezia. Dogs who love to swim can also be more susceptible because they’re often damp in places like their ears, groins and armpits.
Medications Antibiotics and anti-allergy drugs are another big concern. Antibiotics destroy both bad and good bacteria, which allows yeast to grow out of control. And if your dog gets allergy medications like Apoquel when his ear infections are mistaken for allergies, these immune-suppressing drugs make him more susceptible to yeast overgrowth.
Heavy metals and environmental toxins can also harm the beneficial bacteria in your dog’s gut, allowing yeast to grow. Heavy metals and other toxins get into your dog’s body through vaccines, flea and tick preventatives, cleaning products, food and water.
Your dog’s ear yeast infection is usually a sign of a deeper problem in his body …
Food can be a major factor in triggering your dog’s yeast ear infection. Food containing carbohydrates like grains, legumes and starches can trigger food sensitivities that upset your dog’s microbiome. When the gut flora is unbalanced, your dog’s good bacteria is overrun by pathogenic bacteria that encourage the yeast to grow.
High carbohydrate diets like kibble feed yeast when they’re digested and broken down into sugar molecules. That leads to yeast growing larger colonies in the gut … and causes chronic inflammation that can trigger ear yeast infections.
Artificial ingredients like preservatives, flavorings and synthetic vitamins and minerals can also contribute to yeasty ears.
Soothing Home Remedy For Yeast Infection In Dog’s Ear
The most aggravating part of a dog ear yeast infection, for both you and your dog, is the itching. Here are some things to bring relief.
Calendula lotion. Calendula can relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Its antimicrobial properties help prevent infection. Get herbal calendula in tincture form. Add 5 to 10 drops of calendula tincture to 1 cup of lukewarm filtered water. Use a dropper or sponge it into the ears.
Apple cider vinegar. Dilute apple cider vinegar 50/50 with water, then use it on a cotton ball to gently wipe your dog’s ears to relieve itching.
Mullein oil. Herbalist and holistic veterinarian Randy Kidd DVM PhD recommends amullein mix for ear infections. You can make your own or buy mullein oil at health stores. Apply a few drops of warmed oil into the ear canal daily.
Can You Put Peroxide In A Dog’s Ear?
No. It’s never a good idea to use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide dog ear yeast infections. They’ll dry out and irritate his ears. They could irritate open wounds, cause inflammation in the ear canal and worsen infections. And they destroy good bacteria that’s needed for healing.
How To Treat Dog Ear Yeast Infection Without Vet
How do you get rid of a yeast infection in a dog’s ear? Here are several things you can do to begin to get your dog’s yeasty ears under control.
Remove Processed Foods
You should start by removing processed food from your dog’s diet … carbs and sugar are what yeast thrives on. Feeding a high carbohydrate kibble diet often leads to food allergies or intolerances that make your dog more susceptible to yeast.
Feed A Whole Food Diet
A whole food, raw meat-based diet is the best medicine for a dog with yeast issues. Just stay away from carbs and starchy vegetables that feed yeast.
Garlic: research shows it can break down yeast colonies.
MCT oil: it contains caprylic acid that kills yeast.
Pau d’arco: contains lapachol, which can destroy yeast.
Probiotics: probiotic for dog ear yeast infection can rebuild the healthy bacteria in your dog’s gut.
Saccharomyces boulardii: a type of yeast that helps stop other yeasts from spreading in your dog.
Omega-3 fatty acids: to lower overall inflammation.
Digestive enzymes: break down biofilms and fiber that form a protective shell around the yeast.
Olive leaf: an antifungal herb that kills yeast.
Remove Toxins
Steer clear of drugs. pesticides, herbicides and poor quality food and water. Heavy metals and other toxins build up in your dog, disrupting his gut health and allowing yeast to flourish.
Heal Your Dog’s Gut
The gut needs a lot of attention because imbalances can cause food intolerances. And those same imbalances can lead to dog ear yeast infections.
When your dog has an ear yeast infection, it means his immune system needs help. About 90% of your dog’s immune system lives in his gut … so a healthy gut leads to overall health.
You also want to be sure it’s not leaky gut causing the yeast problem. Many chronic health issues stem from leaky gut. Everything that causes dog ear yeast infection can also cause leaky gut. … like poor diet, drugs, toxins, and over-vaccination. Do you see a familiar pattern emerging? So if you address leaky gut, you’ll also tackle the yeast.
Toxins and bad bacteria overwhelm the body and harm the cells that line your dog’s gut. Food particles, bacteria and toxins get into the bloodstream … leading to many chronic health problems.
Leaky gut takes time to heal … but once you begin addressing it and making changes, it makes a huge difference in your dog’s health.
Joanne is a writer on the Dogs Naturally Content Team. For 20 years, she’s been committed to maintaining a multi-dog household reared on raw meat, whole foods and good manners. She coined “chew factor” as her method to keep her first puppy pair occupied by chewing on frozen raw bones. With interests in human and canine nutrition and fitness, she is finally using her journalism background to explore interests close to her heart and her dogs.
Yeast dermatitis is a common issue in dogs that can be frustrating to treat. But don’t worry … there are home remedies for yeast infection in dogs that can help solve this common cause of itchy skin. What to feed when a dog has a yeast infection is an important part of this, so let’s take a closer look at yeast in dogs.
What Is A Yeast Infection In Dogs?
Yeast is a fungus that lives in your dog’s intestines in small numbers. It’s a normal inhabitant of your dog’s digestive tract and it helps him digest his food. But when yeast is allowed to overgrow, your dog will start to suffer from what’s essentially a fungal infection. Two species of yeast in particular can be a significant problem for your dog … Candida albicans and Malassezia.
What Causes Yeast Infection In Dogs?
Yeast is normally held in check by friendly bacteria in your dog’s gut. They compete with Candida for food and attachment sites … and this keeps the yeast numbers down. But if yeast is allowed to grow out of control, it can irritate the cells lining your dog’s gut. Normally, these cells have tight junctions between them. This stops harmful bacteria, viruses and yeast from entering the blood stream from the intestines.
But yeast overgrowth will cause inflammation … and this causes the space between the cells lining the intestines to widen. When this happens, yeast and toxic byproducts can exit the digestive tract and enter your dog’s blood. This is called leaky gut.
If there’s leaky gut present, it can complicate the symptoms of yeast infection … many of the symptoms overlap. But yeast infection has a few key signs you’ll want to look for:
Yeast Infection In Dogs: Symptoms
There are a few telltale signs that will help you figure out whether your dog has a yeast infection, leaky gut or allergies. One of the key signs is changeability … yeast can change with shifts in pH or temperature.
Here are other symptoms of yeast infection in dogs you’ll want to look for:
Chewing or licking the feet
Dark rusty-red hair between the toes
Black skin (often with hair loss)
Bad smell and greasy hair (seborrhea)
Ear infections or head shaking
Speckles on the underbelly
Hair loss on the tail and upper back
Grayish or rust color around the genitals
Diarrhea
Seasonal allergies
Secondary bacterial infection
It’s important to know these signs … becausethe longer your dog’s yeast infection goes untreated, the harder it will be to resolve.
If your dog has more than one of these signs, it might be time to treat the yeast. Here are the 4 steps you need to take to stop your dog’s yeast overgrowth.
How To Treat Yeast Infection In Dogs
Fortunately, treatment for yeast infection in dogs can be done at home. You can manage most types of yeast problems … like yeast infection in dog paws or a dog skin yeast infection … as the underlying cause is the same. Managing a dog yeast infection effectively just requires tweaking the diet and some lifestyle changes.
Dog Yeast Infection Home Remedy
There are four simple steps you need to follow:
Step 1: Stop Feeding The Yeast
Yeast has two different forms … which makes it a dimorphic organism. And the conditions the yeast lives in can change it from one form to another. When yeast is benign, it’s a single celled organism that lives fairly peacefully alongside bacteria. In this form, it doesn’t pose much harm to your dog. But sometimes yeast is allowed to grow out of control. This happens when there aren’t enough gut bacteria to compete with it. This can happen after antibiotic use, but there are other common causes (and we’ll talk about that in a bit).
When yeast doesn’t have to compete with other organisms for resources, it becomes a super yeast! It changes from a single cell structure to a larger and more complex multi-cellular fungus. When this happens, the yeast needs more and more food … and it gobbles everything up around it. This aggressive super-yeast releases over 60 different toxins that can travel anywhere in the body. These toxins irritate the gut lining and cause leaky gut. The yeast can then escape through the holes in the digestive tract and travel to your dog’s organs.
So the first step to stop yeast infections is to stop feeding it! There are two common ways you can unknowingly feed unwanted dog yeast infection:
Yeast Loves Starch and Sugar Yeast has a silver bullet … it loves to eat sugar! So if you remove carbs and sugar from your dog’s diet, you can start to starve the yeast. Carbohydrates are complex chains made up of sugars. When your dog eats them, her body converts them into sugars and this feeds her yeast. Take a slice of bread (which is mainly carbohydrate), bite off a piece and hold it in your mouth for half a minute. You’ll notice that it starts to taste sweet. That’s because the amylase in your saliva is breaking that starch down into sugar. The same thing happens in your dog’s gut … and that sugar feeds the yeast living there.
In the wild, the foods your dog’s ancestors ate (as well as the foods that our human ancestors ate), contained only about 4% starch. But most commercial pet foods have over ten times that amount! Even grain-free foods are usually full of potatoes, sweet potatoes or tapioca and have just as much starch as other kibbles. Sources of carbs and sugars in pet foods include:
Rice
Millet
Potatoes and sweet potatoes
Wheat and corn
Oats
Peas
This is why a raw diet is best for yeast infection in dogs. It doesn’t have the large amount of carbohydrate that commercial foods contain. So if your dog is eating kibble today, you’ll need to switch him to a raw diet or a cooked diet that doesn’t use grains. And if you feed your dog fruits, limit it to berries: they are lower in sugar content.
Yeast Loves Heavy Metals You might not know it, but yeast has a special affinity for heavy metals … especially mercury. Some metals have important functions in the body … like iron and zinc. As long as they’re only present in small amounts. But large amounts of metals like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury can be toxic to your dog.
Heavy metals generate harmful free radicals, which can damage cell membranes and cause serious health issues. In humans, it can cause Parkinson’s diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer (1). This damage is called oxidative stress and it builds up like rust in the body. Heavy metals are so toxic, they can even change your dog’s proteins and DNA. Your dog’s immune system doesn’t do a good job of removing heavy metals. So heavy metals stay in your dog’s body, build up over time, and start causing health problems.
Heavy metals can get into your dog in several ways:
Vaccinations
Industrial waste
Pesticides
Poor quality water
Fish
Pet foods
Research shows that detoxing the body from heavy metals can help prevent kidney disease, heart disease and neurological diseases. So there are really compelling reasons to get heavy metals out of your dog. But if your dog suffers from a yeast infection, there’s another important reason …
Yeast loves to gobble up heavy metals. Researchers are actually looking at yeast as a solution to soak up environmental heavy metals. The fact that yeast binds to heavy metals is good news for the environment … but less so for your dog. Researchers are investigating how yeast interacts with heavy metals in the intestines. And it looks like Candida and other yeasts bind to heavy metals in the intestines. This is good news … yeast grabs the heavy metals before they enter the body. But heavy metals are toxic to the beneficial bacteria that also live in the gut. As the mercury and other heavy metals kill off the competing bacteria, the yeast has less competition … and can grow out of control.
So if you want to kill a dog yeast infection, you have to reduce the number of heavy metals. Here are some things that will help:
Avoid vaccinations whenever possible
Don’t give your dog fluoridated water
Avoid feeding fish and low-quality fish oil
Feed organic food when you can (glyphosate is loaded with heavy metals)
Once you limit the heavy metals going into your dog, you can start working on removing them.
A Note About Yeast-Die-Off As yeast start to die, they can release a toxic substance called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is the byproduct from digesting alcohol and it’s thought to be the toxin that causes hangovers. Yeast also produces a toxin called gliotoxin that can harm your dog’s liver. So your dog can get hangover-like symptoms from yeast die-off.
The heavy metals the yeast holds are toxic to your dog … and if the yeast is killed quickly, the heavy metals will be released into your dog’s circulation. This is often mistaken for yeast die-off … and it can cause the same flu-like symptoms in your dog. You might see nausea, diarrhea, joint pain or just a general sickness as your dog detoxifies from the heavy metals the yeast releases. This is called the Herxheimer Reaction … and it usually lasts from a few days to a few weeks.
The symptoms of yeast die-off can include:
Diarrhea
Worsening of symptoms
Discharge from eyes, nose, skin and ears.
Joint soreness
These symptoms should only last a few days to a few weeks … then your dog should start looking and feeling much better. If you suspect the Herxheimer reaction is happening, there are two things you can do to help:
1. Give digestive enzymes: They can help quickly digest and eliminate dead yeast cells. 2. Give humic/fulvic acid, bentonite clay and chlorella: They can help bind to heavy metals.
Step 2: Destroy The Yeast Biofilm
Yeast cells have a protective shell made up of several layers. This tough outer shell is called a biofilm and it’s what makes yeast tough to kill. Once this protective biofilm is stripped off, the yeast no longer has a safe house to protect it from the immune system. Digestive enzymes are special proteins that help your dog digest his food. They’re also the enemy of yeast … they can digest yeast’s biofilm. And while yeast can build up immunity to some antifungal meds, they’re always susceptible to enzymes.
The biofilm is mainly made of fiber, but also fats and proteins … so it’s important to use digestive enzymes that break down all three of these substances. An important addition is cellulase, a plant-based digestive enzyme. Cellulase breaks down the fiber in yeast’s shell … but your dog doesn’t manufacture it, so it needs to be given as a supplement. Other digestive enzymes will break down the fats and proteins in the biofilm.
It’s important to give your dog digestive enzymes between meals. If given with meals, the enzymes will digest your dog’s food and not the yeast cell walls. Enzymes will also make your dog’s digestive tract more acidic, which makes it less hospitable to both yeast and harmful bacteria. Another benefit to digestive enzymes is that they can reduce the symptoms of yeast die-off. If your dog becomes too uncomfortable, you can increase the digestive enzymes or reduce the amount of anti-fungal foods.
Step 3: What To Feed A Dog With A Yeast Infection
The best diet for a dog with yeast is a whole food, raw diet, avoiding any starchy carbohydrates. Then, once you’ve stopped feeding the yeast and you’ve broken up the biofilm, you’ll want to add antifungal foods and supplements to your dog’s diet. Use as many as your dog can tolerate … but if he’s showing signs of yeast die-off, go more slowly.
Caprylic Acid This is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT) found in coconut oil and palm oil. Of course, you want to be kind to the planet and make sure your caprylic acid never comes from palm oil. Research shows caprylic acid can directly treat some yeast infections. It’s believed it can destroy Candida by destroying its cell membrane. Ideally, your dog’s caprylic acid would come from MCT oil. Research done on the benefits of coconut oil weren’t done on the same coconut oil you would buy at the grocery store … they were done using only the MCTs.
Coconut oil is also a poor choice for managing yeast infection in dogs because of its lauric acid content. Lauric acid promotes inflammation in the digestive tract. This is a key cause of leaky gut. So a good quality MCT oil might be a better source of caprylic acid than coconut oil. And as a bonus, it’s been shown to be a potential way to manage seizures in dogs.
MCT oil can cause diarrhea in your dog if you give too much. So start slowly and work your way up. Try starting at a quarter tsp for large and medium sized dogs.
Olive Leaf Like caprylic acid, olive leaf is believe to break down the Candida cell membrane. Its active antifungal substance is oleuropein. This is what gives olive oil its bitter taste. Olive leaf has been shown to prevent and manage yeast in multiple studies .. so it’s a great addition to fight yeast.
Use the powdered form for your dog. The dose is:
Small Dog 1/4 teaspoon daily
Medium Dog 1/2 teaspoon daily
Large Dog 1 teaspoon daily
You can slowly increase the dose (up to 500mg twice daily for large dogs), but go slowly to avoid the Herxheimer reaction.
Pau D’Arco This is a proven antifungal from the rain forests of South America. Pau d’arco contains naphthoquinones, which can kill fungi (as well as parasites and viruses). Plus it contains lapachol, a substance known to kill yeast. But be careful … lapachol should not be given to pregnant dogs.
Pau d’arco is available in supplement form, but it’s important to find one of a higher quality. The amount of lapachol varies from tree to tree, so it must be standardized. Give pau d’arco as a dried herb. Canine Herbalist Rita Hogan recommends dosing twice daily with food, in these amounts:
100 mg for extra small dogs
200 mg for small dogs
300 mg for medium dogs
400 mg for large dogs
500 mg for extra large dogs
Goldenseal Goldenseal contains a compound called berberine. This is an alkaloid that helps the plant defend itself from fungus and bacteria. It’s a well-known antifungal that has been shown to fight yeast in studies. Goldenseal should not be given in pregnant or hypoglycemic dogs and should not be given long term in large doses. Give goldenseal once or twice daily in these amounts:
Dried powder: use 1 teaspoon per 20 pounds
Tincture: Give 5 – 10 drops per 20 pounds
Those are four proven yeast killers you’ll want to use. .
Once you’ve stopped feeding the yeast and you’ve added the above foods and supplements to kill off the yeast, it’s time for the final step ..
Step 4: Crowd Out The Yeast
If you switch your dog to a raw diet and reduce the heavy metals in his diet and environment, you’ll start to starve the Candida and harmful yeasts. And that’s good! And now you have some supplements to help kill the yeast. Also good.
But dog yeast infections are tough … it’s often hard to limit heavy metals and there will always be some food for the Candida to eat. So you need to create a gut environment that’s not hospitable to yeast. There are a few ways to do this:
Avoid Gut Harming Chemicals Yeast can’t grow out of control if your dog’s gut has healthy populations of bacteria. Yeast can’t take over the neighborhood and all its resources unless its neighbors can’t defend their territory. So if you want to crowd out the yeast populations, you have to stop doing things that cause its neighbors to lose real estate. Besides sugar, here are common things that can harm your dog’s gut bacteria:
Antibiotics: Antibiotics will destroy both the bad bacteria and the good bacteria. Without the competition, yeast can take over and grow out of control.
Toxins: There are toxins in your dog’s food, water and environment that will damage the beneficial bacteria that keep yeast in check. You’ll want to avoid:
Unnecessary vaccines
Drugs and chemicals
Flea and tick preventatives
Cleaning products
Foods high in herbicides like glyphosate
Cortisone medications
Thyroid medications
Stress
These will all cause unwanted changes in your dog’s gut. So a clean diet and living environment will make sure you don’t damage any of those friendly bacteria populations. Once you make the neighborhood “probiotic friendly” again, it’s time to get them to move back in …
Add Probiotics After you make the microbiome a nicer place for beneficial bacteria to live, it’s time to start adding probiotics to your dog’s diet. There are many probiotic supplements you can choose from. Not all probiotics will fight yeast, but these strains have good research behind them. And they’re regular inhabitants in your dog’s gut:
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacilluscasei
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus reuteri
Lactobacillus rhamnosus
Bifidobacterium bifidum
Bifidobacterium longum
Best Probiotics For Yeast Infection In Dogs Soil based probiotics (SBOs) are a different class of probiotics. Most bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are fragile … they’re easily destroyed by your dog’s acidic gut. But SBOs are spore-forming. This means they can form a protective coating that makes them resistant to heat, acid and antibiotics. It also makes them more likely to survive the large intestine compared to other probiotic strains.
These soil-based probiotics are proven to help fight yeast overgrowth directly:
Bacillus coagulans
Bacillus subtilus
Pediococcus acidilactici is an additional probiotic that bears special mention. It prevents undigested food from accumulating in the gut and attracting unwanted yeast and bacteria. Another study found that it protects the gut lining from harmful organisms.
Avoid Fermented Foods Many foods are rich in probiotics, including yogurt, kefir, kimchi and kombucha. You might think these foods would help crowd out your dog’s yeast. But you’ll want to avoid fermented food until your dog’s yeast is back under control.
This might seem counterintuitive since your dog needs probiotics. But fermentation happens when the carbohydrates and sugars in food are eaten by bacteria and yeast. So the prebiotics found in fermented food will also feed the yeast in your dog’s intestines! It’s best to leave the fermented foods alone until your dog’s yeast infection is resolved.
Fight Yeast With Yeast There’s a special probiotic called Saccharomyces boulardii. What’s unique about this probiotic is that it’s not bacteria … it’s actually yeast. You might be thinking you don’t want to add any more yeast to your dog’s problems! But S. boulardii has been shown to stop Candida from moving out of the digestive tract and into the bloodstream and organs. And it also reduces the inflammation Candida causes and reduces its colonization.
Add Prebiotics It’s important to remember that probiotics only live in your dog’s gut for a day or a few days. So you can’t stop at probiotics. If you want to grow your dog’s bacteria populations, you need to do more … you need to give your dog prebiotics. Just as yeast loves to eat carbs and sugar, friendly bacteria love to eat starch. Not to be confused with carbs, the starch that feeds yeast is the kind your dog can’t digest. You might know it as fiber.
So if you really want to increase the numbers of bacteria in your dog’s gut … feed them with fiber! Prebiotics will do a much better job than just giving probiotics for a couple of reasons:
Most of the friendly bacteria in your dog’s gut aren’t found in probiotic supplements
Probiotics don’t grow bacteria populations as well as prebiotics do
So prebiotics are a critical part of your dog’s fight against yeast. Plus, fiber can reduce mercury levels in the brain and body. Here are some important, food-based prebiotics you should add to your dog’s diet:
Dandelion root
Burdock root
Chlorella (also detoxes the brain from mercury)
Low-sugar berries (like raspberries)
Remove The Heavy Metals Your final job is to remove all those heavy metals the dead yeast will dump into your dog’s body. Fiber will already do a good job of this … but there are foods that can help with this job:
Chlorella (This green algae has been shown to reduce the absorption of mercury in mice.)
Foods Rich In Sulphur (Foods that are rich in sulphur can bind to heavy metals and reduce the oxidative damage in organs. These include garlic and broccoli. These supplements have also been shown to chelate (bind to) heavy metals:
Glutathione
Citrus pectin from brown seaweed
Sulphur-containing amino acids (like taurine and methionine)
Selenium
Bentonite clay
Humic and fulvic acid
So there you have it … the four simple steps to managing a dog yeast infection! If your dog is really suffering, go slow. These are changes that will last a lifetime, so slow and steady wins the race against yeast.
There are three topics you shouldn’t discuss with friends: politics, religion … and spay/neuter.
Talking frankly about spaying and neutering is worth the backlash though … because of the health risks associated with it, especially in a young dog. One common problem is the link between spay/neuter and joint disease in dogs.
Unfortunately, many dog owners don’t know about the health risks of spay/neuter. Vets spend a lot of time telling you why you should spay or neuter your dog … but they spend very little time talking about why you shouldn’t. So … the goal of this article is to give you the information your vet doesn’t. Then you can make the best possible decision for your dog.
I’ll preface the article by stating that I breed Labrador Retrievers, a breed that can be prone to hip and elbow dysplasia, as well as cruciate tears. The families who get one of my puppies receive a warranty of sorts, saying that I have done everything I can to prevent these issues. If, despite my best efforts, the puppy I’ve bred ends up with a debilitating joint issue, I will refund the purchase price to the puppy’s family.
But there is one disclaimer: if the family decides to spay or neuter the puppy before 24 months of age, my warranty is null and void.
The reason is that research shows I can’t guarantee the puppy’s joints won’t be affected by this seemingly simple medical procedure. Spay/neuter and joint disease are now shown to be related. Spay or neuter surgery can permanently change a healthy puppy joint into an unhealthy one.
At the heart of the matter is how spay/neuter affects your dog’s hormones.
When a dog’s reproductive organs are surgically removed, the sex hormones they produce also disappear. The sex hormones are responsible for more than just sexual behaviors. One of their responsibilities is regulating growth.
Breeders can readily spot the difference between an intact dog and a neutered dog: neutered dogs have longer limbs, narrower heads and bodies, and they’re lighter in bone (1).
Bone Development
Studies have shown that when the sex hormones are removed, the growth hormones are missing important regulatory input …. so the bones continue to grow longer than they ought to.
In each long bone there is a growth (epiphyseal) plate, which is a band of cartilage found near the joint. This growth plate lays down bone as a puppy develops. As it builds bone, the bone becomes longer and the puppy gets larger and taller. Once the dog matures, this growth plate turns into bone and the puppy reaches his full height.
When dogs are sterilized before maturity, the closure of some but not all growth plates may be delayed (2). This is especially true if a dog is sterilized when only some of his growth plates are closed.
Elbow And Stifle Joints
The dog’s elbow and stifle joints have similar structures. Above each joint is one bone (the humerus and femur respectively), and below are two bones (in the elbow, the radius and ulna, and in the stifle the tibia and fibula). This means one bone effectively sits on two.
What would happen if one of those bones underneath the joint stopped growing before the other bone and they ended up being different lengths? Well … it would be very much like building a house on a slope: the weight of the home wouldn’t be evenly distributed and there would be increased load at the lowermost corner of the house.
The same could very well happen in the elbow and stifle joint when closure of the growth plates is artificially delayed. This could in turn lead to increased risk of both elbow dysplasia and cranial cruciate ligament tears.
In 1993, researchers found that spayed and neutered dogs were twice as likely to suffer cranial cruciate ligament rupture (3). Another study in 2004 also found increased risk in neutered dogs (4).
Chris Zinc DVM PhD DACVP explains (5) …
“… if the femur has achieved its genetically determined normal length at eight months when a dog gets spayed or neutered, but the tibia, which normally stops growing at 12 to 14 months of age continues to grow, then an abnormal angle may develop at the stifle. In addition, with the extra growth, the lower leg below the stifle likely becomes heavier (because it is longer), and may cause increased stresses on the cranial cruciate ligament.”
Other researchers have found sterilization can cause a loss of bone mass, as well as obesity, especially in females (6). Both of these factors could lead to an increased risk of cranial cruciate ligament tears. Spayed or neutered dogs are more than three times more likely to suffer from patellar luxation (7).
2. Hip Dysplasia
The thought of hip dysplasia is enough to strike fear into any large breed dog lover. So the bulk of research on spay/neuter and joint disease has focused on this disorder.
Dogs who are sterilized before the age of six months have a 70% increased risk of developing hip dysplasia. Spain et al in a 2004 study propose that (8) …
“… it is possible that the increase in bone length that results from early-age gonadectomy results in changes in joint conformation, which could lead to a diagnosis of hip dysplasia.”
There is more evidence that spay/neuter can increase the risk of hip dysplasia. Van Hagen et al found that among a sample of dogs diagnosed with hip dysplasia, the dogs neutered six months prior to the diagnosis were nearly twice as likely to develop hip dysplasia (9).
Interestingly, a 1996 study by Dannuccia et al found that removing the ovaries of Beagles caused increased remodeling of the pelvic bone … which also suggests an increased risk of hip dysplasia with sterilization (10).
3. Osteosarcoma
Although not technically a joint issue, osteosarcoma is a cancer of the bone. This bears mentioning because spayed and neutered dogs are twice as likely to develop this deadly disease (11).
In another study, male Rottweilers, a breed susceptible to osteosarcoma, were nearly 4 times more likely to develop osteosarcoma than intact dogs (12). In fact, Rottweilers spayed or neutered before one year of age had a 28.4% (males) and 25.1% (females) risk of developing osteosarcoma. The researchers concluded from their results that the longer the dogs were exposed to sex hormones, the lower their risk of osteosarcoma.
Other Spay/Neuter Risks
There are other related risks with spay/neuter, including:
Increased risk of many cancers
Hypothyroidism
Diabetes
Urogenital disorders
Cognitive impairment
Obesity
Giving your dog any surgery and anesthesia poses additional risks for your dog. Keep these in mind as well when you decide if spay/neuter is an option for your dog.
One thing that is clear… is that the risk of joint disease in particular is greatly exaggerated if your dog is sterilized before the growth plates close.
It’s important to remember that the sex hormones do play a synergistic role in your dog’s growth and development and their removal will create imbalance in the body. The real fallout from this imbalance remains to be seen, as research into the effects of sterilization is in its infancy … even though hysterectomies on humans and spay/neuter on dogs have been accepted as normal procedures for decades!
The age at which the growth plates close depends on your dog and breed. In general, the larger the dog, the later the growth plates will close. In giant breeds, this could be nearly two years of age.
Conclusion
Getting back to my puppy contract, given the above research, I simply can’t guarantee the puppies I breed will have healthy joints if they’re spayed or neutered, especially before the age of two. After that age, it’s entirely up to the family whether they keep their dog intact or sterilize him.
I do an extremely thorough job of screening the homes that apply for one of my puppies and if they aren’t responsible enough to keep an intact animal, they certainly aren’t responsible enough to deserve one of my precious puppies in the first place.
People who are involved in rescues and shelters often have a different view on spay/neuter and they are certainly entitled to it. Chances are, if you adopted your dog, you don’t have any choice about keeping him or her intact. So you need to start early to support joint health with the best diet you can afford, plus supplements to support joint health.
When considering if and when your dog should be spayed or neutered, it’s important that you make the decision based on facts. Try to steer clear of an emotional response that may affect the health and longevity of your dog. It’s really not for me – or your vet – to dictate what you should do with your dog. Happily, there are alternatives to the complete removal of the sexual organs.
Vasectomies and tubal ligations are also becoming more popular. They have the happy consequence of less interference with the sex hormones – and your dog gets to keep his or her reproductive organs right where nature intended them to be.
There are zinc injections to sterilize male dogs (but these may be hard to find because of the company’s financial difficulties). This leaves about half of the circulating testosterone available to the body.
You have a choice about whether and when you spay or neuter your dog … and how important it is to you that his or her sexual organs and hormones remain in place. Once your dog is spayed or neutered, you can’t reverse your decision, so dig a little deeper and you just might find a solution that you and your dog can live with, happily and healthfully.
A breakthrough interview on how sterilization in dogs impacts health with expert biologist and researcher Linda Brent, PhD
For years now, I have felt uneasy about spaying and neutering dogs. My questioning of this practice started with spending more time in Europe, where spaying and neutering your dog is much less common. In contrast, in Canada, it was very rare for me to see a dog that wasn’t neutered, and I remember that society looked at those who didn’t spay or neuter their dogs as irresponsible.
I have always been against the early spaying and neutering that many major shelters and humane societies practice. It made no sense to me that young animals who needed hormones for their overall health and muscular, skeletal and brain development were being sterilized.
But I also started to see that even when we spay and neuter dogs later in life, they start losing muscle mass, their tendons and ligaments are more injury-prone, and there are significant changes in their behaviour — such as increased fearfulness, anxiety, and sometimes aggression.
When I decided to neuter my dog Pax two years ago, I didn’t have a full awareness of spaying and neutering. One of the requirements for Pax to become certified as a service dog for my sleepwalking was for him to be neutered.
Before he got neutered, he was solid, strong, playful, and ran super fast. It was about six months after his surgery when he injured his psoas muscle while running on the beach. I also noticed him becoming less interested in playing with other dogs. The fur around his neck got shorter and less thick, and I could see a change in his body shape and tone. Something that many people probably didn’t even notice.
This all prompted me to embark on the search for an expert who has researched the health effects of dog sterilization. That’s how I’ve found Linda Brent, PhD, MBA, an expert biologist who has dedicated the past ten years to research in this area through the Parsemus Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on health-related research in animals and people, especially in areas neglected by conventional medical research entities.
The following blog presents the key insights from my interview with Dr. Linda Brent. If you want to listen to our full discussion on spaying and neutering and its impact on dogs’ health and wellness, you can watch the interview on my YouTube channel.
Conventional spaying and neutering disturbs the natural hormone feedback mechanisms and can lead to life-altering health and behavioural issues and shortened lifespans in dogs
Dr. Peter Dobias: What challenges have you identified in conventional spaying and neutering methods? How do they impact pet health, specifically cats’ and dogs’ health?
Dr. Linda Brent: The biggest issue is that people don’t think about spaying and neutering as affecting their pet’s hormones. You’re removing the sex organs from the animal so it can no longer produce the kinds of hormones that any normal animal would have throughout most of its life.
However, in North America in general, it’s become such a standard that people haven’t come to grips with the idea that there might be health implications to doing this. If you were talking about humans, for example, a two-year-old kid who, for some reason, lost the ability to have a normal endocrine system or normal hormones, everyone would be alarmed and acknowledge the impact of such a deficit.
Every animal, including humans, needs the right kind of hormones to grow and develop and not have diseases. So it’s funny when we think about our pets that we don’t also consider that the same issues come into play.
If you take the natural hormones out of the dog, there are going to be some long-term health implications. The research is interesting because, in the US, we didn’t start massive wide-scale spaying and neutering until the 60s to early 70s, when pet overpopulation became an issue. So it hasn’t been all that long.
It was years before anybody even started doing a lot of research on this topic. We’re honing in on some of the most problematic issues, like cancers and joint issues. These are debilitating, life-ending problems that happen much more commonly in dogs that are spayed and neutered than in intact dogs.
There’s a significant impact depending on how large the dog is, what breed it is, and the overall genetic background.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Can you explain how the hormonal axis works, from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland to the testes or ovaries and why we see these challenges when we remove the testicles/ovaries?
Dr. Linda Brent: While the testicles or ovaries are the organs that produce the hormones, there’s a whole cascade of chemical reactions that have to happen to have that work — starting with the hypothalamus and that influences the pituitary gland and then that puts chemicals into the blood system that would tell the ovaries or the testes to produce estrogen or testosterone or not.
What happens when you take those organs away is that the system keeps going because there’s no feedback from the hormones in the body to tell it to stop. One of the products of that is the luteinizing hormone (LH), which is one of the signalling chemicals that tells the organs what to do. This is called a feedback loop. When that feedback loop is disrupted because you’ve stopped the feedback of the normal hormones, it just grows and grows and grows.
One of the collaborators I’ve worked with very closely, Dr. Michelle Kutzler, has been at the forefront of understanding the mechanism of why spaying and neutering would have a negative effect (1). She has found that luteinizing hormones aren’t just for sexual function. There’s also a luteinizing hormone receptor. These receptors are in many tissues in the body. When you have something so out of balance, it can drive tissues to act abnormally.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Are early spaying and neutering in dogs more damaging?
Dr. Linda Brent: There’s a recent study that Dr. Chris Zink published in the Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association in 2023 that looked at intact dogs, spayed and neutered dogs, and the outcome was that dogs who had access to normal hormones for longer had fewer health complications and lived longer (2).
Dr. Peter Dobias: You said there is a difference between small and large dogs in the effects of neutering and spaying. Have you seen larger dogs suffering more than smaller dogs?
Dr. Linda Brent: The data is pretty clear that larger dogs generally suffer more from spaying or neutering as they have a longer trajectory of growth. You end up with all sorts of joint disorders when you’ve put their whole hormone system out of balance.
Many breeders and veterinarians now say if you have a large dog breed, or especially a giant breed, you need to wait at least 18 months, if not two years, until their growth plates have closed on their bones. This way, dogs don’t get this extreme elongation of bone structure, which is the cause of some of the joint disorders that they end up with later on.
The best advice I could give somebody who has a puppy and is wondering if they should spay or neuter their dog is to look at their dog and consider its genetic background and disease susceptibility. For example, if it’s a breed like golden retrievers that are more susceptible to cancer.
Also, you should look at the risks and benefits of the different methods that you might be able to choose. Some people probably wouldn’t do any kind of sterilization. If you have a small dog and it stays in an apartment most of the time, or it’s on a leash the rest of the time, maybe that’s the easiest thing.
Dr. Peter Dobias: I’m originally from the Czech Republic, and I spend quite a bit of time there now. Most dogs are not neutered and get along in the park off-leash. I see such a massive difference in how these dogs behave and how they interact with each other. It breaks my heart to see how many dogs in North America have behavioural issues, such as fearfulness, anxiety, and aggression. Is this related to hormonal imbalances?
Dr. Linda Brent: Yes, many behaviour problems are more common in dogs that have been spayed or neutered.
I’ve had purebred dogs that I didn’t spay or neuter until they were quite old. I’ve also had rescue dogs and one of my rescue dogs was probably neutered when he was just a couple of months old. He didn’t have health problems throughout his life, but he developed severe dementia when he was older, which is a behavioural symptom of being spayed or neutered, and we had to euthanize him because of that.
Hormome-preserving sterilization can provide an alternative that removes dogs’ ability to reproduce without disrupting hormone production
Dr. Peter Dobias: Could you explain the concept of hormone-preserving sterilization and its benefits over traditional methods? How can it be done and what do you recommend?
Dr. Linda Brent: Instead of removing the ovaries and the testicles, you can remove the ability to reproduce without messing up the hormones. We call it hormone-sparing sterilization. Some people, for female dogs, call it ovary-sparing spay or hysterectomy.
Without a uterus, a dog cannot reproduce, but you leave the ovaries intact. The entire uterus is removed, including the cervix, so there’s no chance of pyometra, which can be a life-threatening disease. This is one of the reasons that veterinarians often say you should get your female spayed, but there is a way to sterilize your pet without removing the hormones and still protecting them from pyometra.
Dr. Peter Dobias: When it comes to the two sterilization options, whether you do tubal ligation or remove the uterus, has anyone done studies on the frequency rate of pyometra?
Dr. Linda Brent: I don’t know that it would be any less with tubal ligation than with an intact dog. Pyometra can be life-threatening, and a lot of times, people don’t realize that it doesn’t have a lot of symptoms until it’s serious.
We prefer to recommend the removal of the uterus or a hysterectomy rather than tubal ligation. In all of our conversations with veterinarians, it would be tough to find a veterinarian who would recommend tubal ligation instead.
Dr. Peter Dobias: When it comes to blood spotting in female dogs, does it happen when the uterus is removed?
Dr. Linda Brent: This is why it’s important that the veterinarian has experience and understands that all of that tissue has to be removed. But if you’re still having the problem later, and especially if the dog is showing spotting at regular intervals, as it would be in heat, then it would probably make sense that the dog would need to be looked at again to be sure that there are no tissues left there.
We have a lot of information on our website, including videos, discussions, and papers specifically for veterinarians if they’re interested in learning the techniques if they haven’t been familiar with them in the past.
We also have a number of veterinarians, through the Parsemus Foundation, willing to advise specifically to new vets who are interested in it. We give people a lot of support so they can move into this new area.
Hormone replacement therapy may help improve health and quality of life in spayed and neutered dogs
Dr. Peter Dobias: I know you’ve done a hormone therapy study. What were the key health improvements observed in the neutered male dogs? Are there any side effects?
Dr. Linda Brent: Just to be clear, for male dogs, prostate cancer is actually higher if they’re neutered. But for male dogs that have already been castrated and have had hormone therapy, and their hormones have been restored to a more normal level, prostate cancer is still the main thing that you need to watch for.
My dog Toby has now been on testosterone therapy (3) for four years since he was four and a half years old. He’s eight and a half now and when I take him for his annual exam with the veterinarian, I make sure that he has at least a manual prostate exam.
As he gets older, when you would expect the prostate to grow as it does in humans and potentially cause problems, you can have an ultrasound or other diagnostics done just to double-check that there are no issues going on.
Dr. Peter Dobias: How has your dog aged after being on hormone replacement therapy? What changes are you seeing?
Dr. Linda Brent: He’s perfectly fine. There have been no side effects from the testosterone therapy. He’s on a weekly injection with an insulin-sized needle. So it’s an incredibly tiny amount. He has also been on a GnRH agonist because even with supplementing testosterone, the LH was still very high.
Originally, his LH was in the 80s, while the normal range for a male dog is zero to three for an intact dog. Even when we put him on testosterone therapy, the LH level was still outside the normal range. It went down to 30, but it was still high. With the GnRH agonist, the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist, which overstimulates the pituitary and stops the flow of LH, his LH is now down to a normal level.
I get Toby’s blood work done regularly, but I don’t check his hormones any longer because he’s been on a standard testosterone dose all this time and hasn’t had any issues at all.
Before the hormone replacement therapy, he couldn’t jump up on you like a healthy dog would do, he was in constant pain and became horribly anxious. He was petrified and we couldn’t take him anywhere. He was so scared of everything.
We spent the next three years, like many people do, trying one therapy after another. He’s been on all sorts of medications and training, diets and everything else without any results.
I was fortunate because of my job. I was familiar with this background and knew some veterinarians who could counsel me and help my local veterinarian start this testosterone therapy regimen on him.
Within a couple of months, his entire body composition changed. Before we started, he was emaciated in his hips because he just couldn’t use his legs very much. Within about three months, it was entirely noticeable how his ability to move became better, and he started running around.
It was interesting because, at about the same time, we had gotten a new dog that was younger than him and wanted to play. What really broke our hearts was that we had this dog who wasn’t old, but he couldn’t run. He could hardly play. He was limping, and we had him on pain medicine all the time. It was awful.
Then, after a couple of months, he was totally changed, and you wouldn’t even know now that he had any kind of hip issues. His weight issue also stabilized as he was overweight before. His anxiety took longer to come around, I would say several years. Overall, he is in better shape today than he was when he was a year and a half old.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Are there any behavioural changes if you start replacing testosterone in male dogs? Do dogs become more aggressive or more territorial?
Dr. Linda Brent: The only behavioural change we noticed in my dog, because we have two dogs, was that he started mounting the other dog, but it was transient. It didn’t last.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Is there currently an established testosterone dose per pound or per dog? How do you dose it currently?
Dr. Linda Brent: You know, it’s tricky. We did a lot of research on both animal and human dosage and what works. Toby is on 0.5 mg/kg weekly.
We tried it monthly, but his LH or his testosterone went really high and then really low. We wanted it to be levelled off. So, a weekly dose works great.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Do you do hormone replacement therapy in female dogs as well?
Dr. Linda Brent: Our foundation hasn’t done any studies yet because female dogs get incontinent quite frequently when they’re spayed. There is at least a small body of literature on using various types of estrogens and sometimes GnRH agonists to reduce LH, which helps.
For most dogs, you can pretty much get things under control by replacing what they lost. It doesn’t seem to work quite well in males, at least with the little bit of literature there is for incontinence in male dogs. But, because of that, at least veterinarians are usually familiar with the concept.
We hope that if a female dog is having similar problems and you go to a veterinarian, you’ll have an easier time potentially finding a vet that would offer hormone therapy. There’s just such a lack of knowledge on hormone replacement therapy in male dogs, which is why we’ve kind of concentrated in that area.
Better health outcomes for neutered and spayed dogs start with educating dog parents and veterinarians about alternative sterilization methods
Dr. Peter Dobias: How do you plan to raise or how have you been raising awareness among pet owners and veterinarians about the alternatives to traditional?
Dr. Linda Brent: We’ve gone to a lot of veterinary conferences. I’ve given a presentation about this with other veterinarians talking about hormone-sparing sterilization. Our website, parsemus.org, has tons of information. We’re one of the main repositories for research on this topic.
The other thing we do is fund studies, and we try to encourage people and veterinarians to try new sterilization methods and get the word out. We have a whole veterinary directory of people who offer alternatives to traditional spaying and neutering.
Dr. Peter Dobias: How do you envision the future of pet care, especially in terms of reproductive health?
Dr. Linda Brent: It’s a matter of time before we all think about our pets in a different way. We’re already on that path where we think of their lifetime health and nutrition
People are starting to realize they can’t just give them this stuff in a can anymore. They are questioning, and that trickles down to all the different areas of health, just like we think of our own health in many different ways. I’m very optimistic that we’re on the right path and that it is about educating people.
We’re in an age where it’s easy to find information and organizations like ours. Parsemus Foundation is a non-profit and we are here to help people and support the professionals in the area so that they can learn and grow and offer new treatments to their patients.
Dr. Peter Dobias: What advice would you give veterinarians regarding discussing sterilization options with pet owners?
Dr. Linda Brent: Being open-minded and giving individual care is critical. When you’re talking about something as important as sterilization, it’s not a one-size-fits-all. The quicker people come around to that concept and take the time to understand each individual client they have, and what may work best for them, and look at the risks and benefits just like they might with any other type of procedure they do, that’s going to work the best.
In our opinion, the demand from the public far outweighs the number of veterinarians offering this. So, as a veterinarian or even as a shelter or rescue, if you embrace the newer methods that consider the individual lifetime health of the animal, you’re going to do well. There’s an enormous amount of demand from the public.
We are contacted every day by people looking for a veterinarian in their town or in their state to do a certain procedure. That’s why we have the directory, but it will separate veterinarians in terms of the ones that are in the most demand and those that aren’t.
Dr. Peter Dobias: Reflecting on your career, what has been the most significant learning and insight regarding pet health?
Dr. Linda Brent: Don’t accept the status quo. Just because it’s something that has been done or people say is the only way to do it, that might not be true. Always question, always educate yourself. To me, that is the most important thing because that covers all the areas.
Many thanks to Dr. Linda Brent for her invaluable insights and I hope our discussion has provided you with a better understanding of how spaying or neutering affects our dogs’ long-term health and well-being and will help you make an informed decision about when or if you plan to get your dog neutered or spayed.
(1) Animals (Basel). 2020 Apr 1;10(4):599. doi: 10.3390/ani10040599. Possible Relationship between Long-Term Adverse Health Effects of Gonad-Removing Surgical Sterilization and Luteinizing Hormone in Dogs. Michelle A Kutzler
(2) Volume 261: Issue 3. doi.org/10.2460/javma.22.08.0382. Vasectomy and ovary-sparing spay in dogs: comparison of health and behavior outcomes with gonadectomized and sexually intact dogs. Chris Zink DVM, PhD, DACVSMR, Mikel M. Delgado PhD and Judith L. Stella PhD
(3) Top Companion Anim Med. 2021 Nov:45:100565. doi:10.1016/j.tcam.2021. 100565. Epub 2021 Jul 28. Restoration of Reproductive Hormone Concentrations in a Male Neutered Dog Improves Health: A Case Study Linda Brent, Elaine A Lissner, Michelle A Kutzler
About the author
Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM is an Integrative veterinarian, nutritionist and creator of natural supplements for dogs and people. Helping you and your dog prevent disease, treat nutritional deficiencies, and enjoy happier, healthier, and longer lives together.
Your dog’s appetite is regulated by a complex mechanism that involves their brain, the fullness and distention of their stomach and intestines, and specific hormones. Appetite can be altered by medical conditions, behavioral conditions, environmental changes, or issues with the food itself.
When a dog has no appetite and isn’t eating food, this is called anorexia. Anorexia in dogs is not the same as anorexia nervosa in humans. When the dog has a decreased appetite but still eats some food, we call this hyporexia. If your dog has a normal appetite but physically can’t eat, this is called pseudoanorexia.
When your dog isn’t eating, your veterinarian must differentiate between conditions causing a lack of appetite and conditions causing an inability to eat.
How Long Can a Dog Go Without Food?
Most adult dogs can go three to five days without eating as long as they’re still drinking water. This doesn’t mean you should sit idle while your dog isn’t eating for several days! If your adult dog hasn’t eaten for two days but is otherwise acting normal, contact your veterinarian.
An exception to this rule is a dog diagnosed with diabetes. If your diabetic dog is skipping any meals, contact your veterinarian, because this lack of food may adversely affect their response to insulin.
Young puppies need to eat more often. Puppies skipping meals run the risk of developing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Nursing puppies need to eat every two to four hours depending on their age. Puppies closer to two months generally need to eat at least three times per day.
If your puppy skips a normal meal and still seems uninterested in eating a few hours later, contact your veterinarian immediately, especially if they’re acting unlike themselves, vomiting, or having diarrhea.
Can You Stimulate Appetite in Dogs?
Yes, you can try to stimulate your dog’s appetite at home by offering their favorite treats, making boiled chicken and rice, or warming up their food.
Your veterinarian may prescribe medications, if needed, to stimulate their appetite, including mirtazapine and capromorelin (Entyce®). In some cases, they may prescribe antinausea medications such as maropitant (Cerenia®). Use only medications prescribed by your veterinarian.
Reasons Why a Dog Is Not Eating Their Food
Medical
The list of medical conditions that could decrease your dog’s food consumption is extensive. Below is a list of general categories of medical conditions that could cause anorexia or hyporexia in dogs, and examples of each.
Tumors or cancer: Masses in the mouth or back of the throat, stomach cancer, intestinal cancer, large abdominal masses, or lymphoma.
Orthopedic: Arthritis making it difficult to lower their head to the food bowl, or hip dysplasia causing walking to the food bowl painful.
New medications: Almost any new medication can affect appetite.
If you’re noticing a decreased appetite but your dog seems otherwise healthy, contact your veterinarian for an appointment. In the meantime, you can try the following to encourage your pup to eat:
Ensure access to clean water at all times
Try heating their food in the microwave
Offer warmed canned food
Add warmed water to dry food
Put dog-safe broth on their food (no garlic or onions, low-sodium)
If your dog is also vomiting or having diarrhea, acting lethargic, has a tense or distended abdomen, or yelps when their abdomen is touched, contact an emergency vet for guidance.
When your dog isn’t eating, your veterinarian must differentiate between conditions causing a lack of appetite and conditions causing an inability to eat.
Behavioral
Dogs experience similar emotions and mental health conditions as humans. Examples of behavioral causes for decreased appetite may include:
If your dog is having severe enough behavioral concerns that it’s affecting their eating, contact your vet. For some dogs, medications like fluoxetine or trazodone may be necessary to help manage their condition.
In the meantime, you can support your pet by:
Avoiding any obvious triggers for their anxiety
Providing them with a safe space, such as giving them a room of their own when visitors are present
Healthy senior dogs have a lower calorie requirement than younger pups, so you may notice a slight decrease in appetite as your dog gets older. However,age is not a reason for a dog to become anorexic. A significant change in your senior dog’s appetite is a reason to contact your veterinarian.
When supporting your senior dog’s appetite at home, consider:
Using a raised food bowl if they’re having trouble reaching their food
Offer them food by hand
Place a nonslip mat around their bowls to avoid falls
Offer softer foods so they can easily chew
Feeding at scheduled times of day to help with cognitive decline
Environmental Changes
Environmental changes play into your pet’s emotional well-being. Significant changes to the home environment can cause stress and anxiety, which in turn affect appetite. This includes:
Provide a safe space for your dog when they want time alone
Reduce the movement of their food and water bowls so there is routine and consistency
Use dog pheromones to reduce anxiety
Problems With Your Dog’s Food
If your dog has routinely eaten the same food and now shows no interest in it, make sure to check for the following:
Is the food moldy or expired?
Is the food wet?
Did you get the right flavor?
Some dogs are picky and prefer a specific type of food, refusing to eat any other kind. If you’ve switched from wet food to kibble or vice versa and your pet stops eating, it could be as simple as switching back to the original food.
If your dog remains uninterested in food, especially into a second day, contact your veterinarian for an evaluation.
Other dogs know how to play their pet parents, so they’ll refuse their meal if they know you’ll give them something better. Make sure your dog isn’t overeating treats. Treats should make up no more than 10% of your dog’s calories.
What To Do When Your Dog Is Not Eating
If your dog isn’t eating but is still drinking and otherwise acting normal, refer to the above potential reasons for why your dog may have a sudden lack of interest in eating. You can try warming their food, offering a different food, boiling rice and chicken, or offering treats to see if you can encourage them to eat. Make sure to consider whether your dog is experiencing any stressors.
When To Call Your Vet
If your dog remains uninterested in food, especially into a second day, contact your veterinarian for an evaluation. If your dog has diabetes or is a puppy, contact your veterinarian immediately.
If your dog has no appetite but is drinking excessive amounts of water, this may be a reason to seek emergency attention. For example, they could be experiencing diabetic ketoacidosis. At a minimum, call your veterinarian for advice.
Your Puppy Is Not Eating
Puppies cannot go as long as adult dogs without food. If your puppy is skipping meals, contact your veterinarian. If this is accompanied by vomiting and/or diarrhea, the number one issue to rule out in a puppy would be parvovirus. With severe signs, this could require emergency care.
FAQs
Do dogs go through phases of not eating?
No. Dogs do not typically go through phases of not eating, but they may experience a decreased appetite due to a medical condition, stress, fear, or anxiety. Changes to their home environment may also cause a temporary reduction in appetite.
Why won’t my dog eat his food but will eat treats?
In some cases, your dog won’t eat their food but eats treats because they’ve learned that refusing to eat dinner means they get the good stuff. However, if your dog is always refusing food and only occasionally taking some treats, make sure to contact your veterinarian to rule out medical conditions. Sometimes, even a sick dog can’t say no to treats.
Are there home remedies for a sick dog who isn’t eating?
If your dog is acting sick and not eating, your veterinarian may recommend that you try boiled chicken and rice at home while you await an appointment. Talk with your veterinarian before relying on home remedies for your pet who has no appetite.
Allowing children to have unsupervised access to your dog falls under the category of “EVERYTHING IS OK—RIGHT UP UNTIL ITS NOT”.
When children are pestering a dog, the dog often gives off warning signals that it doesn’t like what’s happening. Unfortunately, children don’t recognize these signals so they continue to jump on the dog, mess with its food bowl, jump on it when its trying to sleep, or try to take the dog’s toys away from the dog.
When this continues and the dog doesn’t have a way to get away from the kid, the dog either bites the kid or knocks them down as it tries to escape the situation. Then the parents blame the dog when in fact, it’s the parents who deserve the blame for not controlling their kids and teaching the kids rules.
Now to those parents who believe their children are a high-level pack member, this is just flat wrong. How would they accomplish that? The answer is they can’t.
The way to approach this is to teach the kids rules about dogs, or manage their older dogs so they don’t have contact with the kids, and/or teach the dog not to have any contact with the children. In other words, they need to teach rules.
If people bring kids to our home, we put the dogs away. The fact is: OUR HOME, OUR RILES, OUR DOG. If they don’t like it, tough. No one plays with our dogs except us.
There is another thing to think about if you have a puppy or soft temperament young dog. If there is one bad incident that happens (i.e. the dog is injured in some way), this can result in a lifelong issue where the puppy will grow up to be reactive around small kids and people.
We all want the same thing, that is for our dogs to grow up to be good canine citizens. Unfortunately, those people who don’t manage their kids and dogs properly risk that not happening.
Bringing a new dog into a home is always an exciting time. It’s like adding a new family member or guest to the household. While much has been written on bringing puppies into the home – very little has been written about bringing new adult dogs into the home. This article should help you make some decisions that will ease the transition.
Pet owners often underestimate the kinds of problems that can occur if mistakes are made.
This can be a difficult if not dangerous situation if it’s not handled correctly. You only need to go to Q&A section on my web site and read the hundreds of emails I have on dog fights.
Many people think they can just bring a new dog home and let the dogs work things out themselves. For the lucky ones this works out OK, but more often than not people find themselves in the middle of a dog fight and wonder what went wrong.
Dogs are pack animals and humans are primates. These two groups interact differently.
The average pet owner does not have a clue about how strong the genetic pack instinct is that floats just under the fur of their lovable family pet. The addition of a second or third dog into the home often triggers a genetic pack drive or RANK DRIVE. Many people are shocked and confused when they see the level of aggression that their sweet family dog is capable of.
There is usually more than one thing going on that result in these problems. To name just a few: a house dog is often territorial; there can be rank or dominance problem between the new dogs; or there can be inter-male or inter-female issues that result in aggression.
Yesterday, I had a lady write me who has a serious problem. She owned 30 house dogs. People like her are called “dog collectors.” She takes in strays and if you can believe it, she keeps the majority of them in her home.
The woman realized that she has an obsessive compulsive disorder.
As obvious as it is, this lady has created a huge dog pack and has witnessed some really awesome dog fights. The fact is the genetic instincts that control her 30 dog pack are the exact same instincts that start to flow in a home which only has 3 dogs.
Three Dogs Are a Pack
Here are some of the issues that develop when people create dog packs:
Dogs become much more territorial (just like wolf packs).
Three dogs will develop a RANKING ORDER which includes a pack leader. Every dog in a pack knows exactly what its rank is within their dog pack. When dogs don’t have a strong human pack leader, one of the three dogs will ALWAYS step to the line and become the leader.
When a new dog is added to a home every dog in that house has to re-establish its personal rank within the new family pack. Re-establishing rank is where dog fights come from.
By the way the worst dog fights are inter-female dog fights (females are fierce).
When fights begin in a larger pack (3 or more dogs), most of the time all the dogs will gang up on the weakest dog.
Once a dog has been attacked it is often traumatized for life. These dogs will always be leery of meeting new dogs. In fact, once a dog has been attacked it will often become dog aggressive and automatically want to fight any new dogs that it sees.
A dog can love you and not respect you. Love and respect are two totally different things.
Most dogs don’t want to be the pack leaders. When it’s forced on them they get stressed and nervous.
When dogs have strong human pack leaders this does not happen. The human pack leader makes it crystal clear that this aggressive behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Human pack leader shows his dog or dogs that he will protect them FROM OTHER DOGS. This is a very important issue that the average dog owner doesn’t realize, but I guarantee you your dog does.
Our goal in introducing a new dog into a family which already has other dogs comes down to “bringing another member into the family pack in a manner that is seamless and nonviolent.”
When it’s done correctly the first few weeks of your relationship with the new dog set the stage for the rest of your dogs life. The minute a dog meets you he starts to evaluate you as a leader. If you know this it’s easy to set yourself up as a pack leader. In my DVD titled Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Dog. I explain in detail how to do this.
My DVD lays out the steps I have used over the past 30 plus years when I bring new dogs into my home. With this said, I caution everyone about going too fast and skipping steps. You have nothing to lose in letting this process take some time and doing it right. With this said you have a lot to lose if you screw up and end up with a dog fight.
The most important part of this process is to get and use dog crates. We have a dog crate for every dog in our house. Just because your current dogs don’t use crates is not a good enough reason to not use them in this process.
We put the new dog in a dog crate in our home where the other dogs can go up and smell the newcomer. If our house dogs growl at the new dog, we immediately step right in and give a strong correction.
Your job as THE PACK LEADER IS TO SHOW YOUR DOGS THAT YOU WILL NOT TOLERATE AGGRESSION TOWARD THIS NEW PACK MEMBER.
Pack leaders decide when there will be a fight and by your stopping aggression you are reminding them who the leader is. If you want to learn about corrections you can read the article I wrote titled The Theory of Corrections in Dog Training.
We put prong collars or remote collars or dominant dog collars on our house dogs when we have determined it’s time to allow the dog out of the crate in the house. The new dog always has a leash on in the house. This does not come off until the dog is obedience trained to the point where we are 100% sure that we can call him away from a serious distraction (IE a house guest, food, a toy or away from the crate where the other dog is).
If the new dog growls at us or the other dog during this process we either put him back in the crate (and the crate training begins again) or we have the tools in place to give an appropriate correction.
If you have a rank problem between you and your dog then you are going to have to deal with that before you introduce this new dog. If need be you may want to get my DVD Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.
There is no reason to rush the introduction of a new dog into your home. It can take weeks or even months for that matter. We have 4 house dogs. We have 4 crates in our basement one in my office and one on the main floor of the house. While our dogs can be together when we are present, we never leave them together when we are gone. In fact, we only leave one dog out of the crate when we are gone.
During the day we rotate our dogs through the house, through their dog crates and through the outside dog yard.
During the period that you are introducing an adult dog into your home you will have times when your existing dogs are in their crates and the new dog is on a leash in the house. This is the time that you establish your relationship with this new dog. This is done through grooming, walks, play, and obedience training and pack structure training.
Establishing a relationship means that you are subtly teaching the dog that you are the pack leader. This is accomplished by controlling every aspect of this dogs life. I have written extensively on this process and covered it in both the pack structure and dominant dog DVD.
Even if you don’t have a dominant dog you should still read the article I wrote titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog.
I also recommend the article I wrote titled The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader. This is part of the protocol we use in our home to introduce new dogs and puppies.
Now Back to Introducing the Dogs
During the first weeks the only time our dogs are around one another is when one is in a crate and the others are loose. We know when they are beginning to accept one another when they begin to ignore one another. Your goal here is to show the existing house dogs that this new dog is now part of your pack.
Once that happens you can start to think about how to introduce the dogs outside of the crates.
We always handle introductions with both dogs on leash with a dominant dog collar. It’s best not to do this inside the house.
I would like to make the point here that for this work I prefer a dominant dog collar over a prong collar. Many times a prong collar correction can over stimulate a dog and result in redirected aggression. This means a stressed dog attacking either the handler or the other dog.
I explain it to new handlers like this – a prong can put more drive into a dog and a dominant dog collar takes drive out of a dog. During the introduction we want to take drive out of a dog.
We handle the introduction by taking the dogs for walks together. If there is even the slightest possibility of a fight we will muzzle the dogs (more on that later).
The bottom line is to error on the side of caution and safety. Dogs use their body language to communicate so take a little time and learn a little bit about dogs body language.
Is a dog standing stiff legged, tail held high? This is a sign that the dog is either dominant or assertive. This could be a dog that is going to pounce or explode on the other dog.
Does the dog hang back behind you? Not wanting to make contact? This is a sign that the dog is looking at you for protection from a nervous situation (dogs always look to their pack leader for protection) If you push this point here and try and force contact you may put the dog in “FIGHT OR FLIGHT” and end up with a dog fight.
Does the dog wag his tail and down down in the front when you bring the other dog out. This is an invitation to play and a good sign.
Does the dog look relaxes with a gentle tail wag. This is not a dog that is stressed. So things may proceed OK on the walk.
Your first walks should be away from your home and the route you take should not be the normal route you have walked your house dogs for the past 3 years. They consider that route their personal territory and you run the risk of territorial aggression.
During the introductory walks always keep the leash loose. If the dogs pull they need a firm POP correction. A tight leash can causes frustration in the dogs and this could trigger re-directed aggression.
DO NOT GO TO DOG PARKS!! – Dog parks are a perfect place to find yourself in a dog fight. I wrote an article on why dog parks are a bad idea. I suggest that you read it.
If things go well on these walks then that’s great, but again there is no hurry. You have the rest of your dogs’ lives to get things settled. One mistake at this stage could lead to a fight from which some dogs never mentally recover.
When the walks have gone well we will introduce them on either side of a chain link fence. The leash is dropped and dragging on the ground. One dog goes inside the yard by itself and the second dog is on a leash outside the yard.
They can sniff through the fence like they did through the dog crate, but here they feel less restricted. They certainly cannot get into a real fight. I demonstrate this process in my DVD – Dealing with a Dominant Dog.
That DVD has excellent examples of dogs being aggressive through fences. The DVD also demonstrates when a smaller woman needs to consider a remote collar to be able to handle a large dog.
By the way it is critical that you get a ID NAME TAG for your new dog as soon as you get the dog. If by chance the dog would get away from you and not come when called, you would have a way for people to identify you as the owner when the catch him. With this said – we would never leave a new dog alone in a fenced back yard. That’s a terrible idea and a perfect way to loose your new dog.
When the walks and fence are going well there comes a time to allow your dogs to meet face to face when you are not holding the leashes. Allow them to sniff one another. Talk to them in a firm, commanding, neutral voice.
Keep the meeting short. Then take them for a walk together. If there is any growling they always get a VERY STRONG VERBAL NO!!
Be prepared to use the dominant dog collar the way it is intended to be used (lift the dogs front feet off the ground by the leash). When dog fights begin they are often right out of the blue and lighting fast.
In extreme cases where you are not sure of what may happen, both dogs should have a muzzle on. We offer inexpensive plastic Jafco muzzles which work just fine. We also offer excellent wire basket muzzles. That way if there is a fight the dogs will not get injured and you can step in and break the fight up without getting bitten.
If you screw up and a dog fight starts – NEVER STEP IN AND TRY TO BREAK UP THE FIGHT by grabbing both collars. Not unless you want a quick trip to the emergency room. There is a protocol to follow in breaking up dog fights. I have written an excellent article on how to do this.
DOG FIGHTS are very dangerous events. Read that article. But with that said, know your physical limitations and always err on the side of safety.
When I introduce 2 adult dogs I will allow sniffing but no dominant posturing – it’s called “T-ing” off. In other words, the dominant dog will put its head over the top shoulder of the other dog and press down.
When the meetings in the back yard are working, then you can try allowing the dogs to be loose together in your home.
We make them wear a drag line and we keep complete control. In other words we don’t allow them to run around like crazy dogs. We make them all do a “down stay” so they are looking and listening to US and not thinking about being stupid with one another.
Food and Toys
One of the most common causes of dog fights in the home are fights over food and toys.
We feed the dogs in dog crates or in different rooms. Pick up any uneaten food after 15 minutes. You will be surprised at how fast your dog will clean his food bowl when he understands that you always take the food away after 15 minutes.
Never allow the dogs to be together with toys. Toys are triggers for dog fights. So NO TOYS left laying around!! Dogs need to learn that all of the toys are your toys and you occasionally allow your dog to play with YOUR TOYS but you always take them back after play time. We sell some great dog toys on our web site – we only sell toys that we use with our dogs and we want toys that are going to last. Check them out.
House Rules
When you get a new dog it is always a good idea to sit down with family members and make a written list of your house rules.
Everyone in the family needs to agree to follow these rules. Consistency is the most important part of dog training. If one family member chooses to ignore the family rules the entire process can break down.
Here are some sample rules:
Determine who will feed the dog – when and where?
Determine who will exercise the dog – where when and what kind?
Determine who will be the primary trainer (even though others may handle the dog during and after training there should only be one trainer) This is covered in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD.
Who does the house training
What are the rules on furniture? I.E. only up if invited up and not on the beds
It becomes very clear who is the pack leader (ME!!)
Again, if there are questions use a muzzle.
Never allow dogs on the furniture or on your bed. That’s just asking for dominance problems. You will have enough pack juices flowing without allowing things to happen that increase rank issues.
Do not attempt to use a remote collar for dog aggression unless you have studied the information in that DVD. If you do it wrong you will instigate a dog fight that you may not be able to deal with.
Keep one last thing in mind. There are some dogs that no matter what you do they will never reliably accept another dog. Keep an open mind about this. If you like both dogs and are not willing to re-home one of them then you simply use two dog crates and keep them separated. Frankly it’s not that big of a deal.
What blows my mind are the people who write and tell me they are going to kill one of their dogs because they can’t stop the fighting. That’s crazy. Just keep them separated.
Also those people who will tell you to just put the dogs together and let them work it out are people who are drop dead stupid. They have not seen the damage from a serious fight. You can tell them to go look at the dog bite pictures on this web site.
Dog Parks
With all of this said you can see why I am not a fan of the “DOG PARKS” I have even written an article on why dog parks are a bad idea.
I caution people not to bring their dogs to these places. It is not a matter of if your dog will be attacked; it’s only a matter of when will it happen.
It’s survival of the fittest in dog parks.
The same can be said for some doggy day care places.
If they use crates and introduce dogs slowly then it’s a well run establishment. If they just toss dogs in a big room and stand back and watch, then don’t do business with them.
In closing I want to make the point that just because you made mistakes in how you introduced your dogs does not mean that you cannot start from scratch again. It may work, it may not work. There is nothing lost in trying.
Muzzles
In extreme cases where you are not sure of what may happen, both dogs should have a muzzle on. We offer inexpensive plastic Jafco muzzles which work just fine. We also offer excellent wire basket muzzles. That way if there is a fight the dogs will not get injured and you can step in and break up the fight.
Dogs on the Furniture
This represents a huge problem. Allowing dogs to lie on furniture is only asking for dog fights and dominance issues. In one case three dogs almost killed the little dog on the back of the couch before the owner made the necessary changes to stop the dog fights he was having.
More About Dog Aggression
If you have come to this page more than likely you have issues with aggressive dogs. A number of pages on my web site (including this one) contain emails about dog fights. I have placed my personal comments under many of these emails.
In addition we offer training resources. I have produced DVD titled: Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs. This DVD demonstrates how to break up a dog fight if you are alone.
Dog fights are violent, loud, and dangerous events. I get emails every day on dog fights. As I wrote this description I got 2 emails. In one email the family had two dogs. Their female GSD had just killed their Dachshund. In the second email this family’s dog had just been in a fight with a neighbor’s dog and did $1,400 damage.
In the mid 1990’s I wrote an article on How to Break Up A Dog Fight. I recommend this article especially if you have multiple dogs.
Are you one of the millions of dog owners who can’t feed raw? Let’s face it … raw feeders are still in the minority. Most dogs today still eat kibble. It may be because of budget, or convenience. Or perhaps you just can’t deal with all that raw meat.
But you still want to give your dog the best food you can. So you’d like to make his meals more nutritious for him by adding fresh food to kibble.
So, if your dog is still eating kibble for any reason … here’s how to supplement dog food with some boosters that’ll make dog kibble better.
6 Kibble Boosters For Dogs
One way to improve your dog’s meals is by adding fresh food to dog kibble, and we’ll tell you some things to add to kibble to make it healthier. But first, here’s one easy change that will give your dog a wider range of nutrients right away.
#1 Vary The Food
Why shouldn’t you give your dog the same food every day?
Well, first, how would you like to eat breakfast cereal every single day of your life, for every meal? Because that’s what eating kibble is like! It’s boring for your dog to eat the same food all the time. But, far more important, you’ll improve his diet by giving him more variety.
But don’t just rotate his food by choosing different kibbles or proteins from the same manufacturer. That won’t give him enough variety …
Rotate Proteins And Vary The Brand
Most manufacturers use the same formula or vitamin premix in every line of food. They just change the protein and maybe a couple of other ingredients. So, instead of different formulas from the same brand … try rotating the brand of food you give your dog! That way he’ll get lots of different ingredients and formulas.
Rotating brands also lowers the risk of any excess or deficient vitamin problems for your dog. For example, dogs have been sickened by excess vitamin D in some dog foods. The FDA has even warned about this problem … advising that vitamin D toxicity can cause kidney failure and even death.
You can help lower the risk of nutrient excesses or deficiencies. Rotate proteins and feed a variety of brands to give your dog a wider range of nutrients.
By providing variety for your dog, you’ll create a stronger gut. Your dog will get used to many different foods … so he won’t get digestive upset from rotating. And he’ll be less likely to develop food sensitivities … which can sometimes happen from eating the same food all the time.
If your dog’s used to eating one food all the time, you might want to start your food rotations gradually to avoid tummy-aches or loose stool. Start by mixing some of the new food with the old … and increase the new food as his digestive system adapts! His body will soon get used to the variety.
Next, give your dog some kibble boosters by adding fresh foods.
#2 Add Fresh Food To Kibble To Promote Good Gut Bacteria
Well-balanced gut bacteria are vitally important to support your dog’s digestive and immune systems. You can improve your dog’s health by adding kibble boosters that help his gut.
Your dog’s gut is home to about 90% of his immune system. Probiotics … the good bacteria living in your dog’s intestinal tract … help protect your dog from chronic disease and illness by …
Protecting the body from bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Creating a barrier against cancer-causing toxins, drugs, heavy metals and allergens.
Helping the body absorb nutrients like calcium, magnesium and iron.
Supporting your dog’s digestive and immune systems.
Some kibbles contain probiotic supplements. But they’re not usually effective … because the live bacteria don’t survive high processing temperatures or long-term storage.
So it’s a great idea to boost kibble by adding probiotic foods like fermented vegetables. Fermented foods help promote friendly bacteria. Or you can give a probiotic supplement.
Include Prebiotics It’s even better to include prebiotic foods too. Prebiotics are a type of soluble fiber or resistant starch that feed the good bacteria in the gut. They help make the probiotics more effective. Some prebiotic fresh foods to add to dog kibble include …
You may find your kibble has prebiotics … they’ll be on an ingredient label with names like fructooligosaccharides (FOS), chicory root, inulin, guar gum or beet pulp. You can also buy prebiotic supplements … or use a supplement that includes both prebiotics and probiotics.
Have you ever put pineapple juice or marinade on meat and noticed the bubbling? The principle behind marinating is that certain foods can digest (or break down) other fresh foods. Those are digestive enzymes at work. The enzymes in fresh foods can ease the digestive process and help your dog absorb more nutrients.
Some kibble may have added enzymes. You can usually recognize an enzyme by words that end in –ase on the ingredient panel. Lipase breaks down lipids or fats. Amylase breaks down starches. Protease breaks down proteins into smaller amino acids. These are only a few of many enzymes. But these enzymes may not survive high-heat processing. So it’s best to add enzymes in a different way.
Add Fresh Vegetables For Enzymes
One thing you can do is add some fresh veggies to your dog’s food. But don’t just toss some raw carrots in his bowl. Here’s why …
Herbivores have a digestive enzyme called cellulase. Cellulase allows a plant-eater to break down cellulose … a component of plant cell walls. This helps release other nutrients from the plant material. But carnivores like dogs don’t have cellulase. This explains why a chunk of raw carrot usually passes right through your dog in one piece!
Adding fresh vegetables to kibble is a great way to provide your dog with some live enzymes. But first, make them digestible by lightly steaming or mulching/puréeing them.
Or, you can make it even easier. Boost your dog’s kibble by adding a digestive enzyme supplement to his bowl. You can add powdered digestive enzymes to processed kibble. Sprinkle the powder onto the food before serving.
#4 Add Fresh Food To Dog Kibble For Whole Food Nutrients
Many kibble manufacturers claim their food is complete and balanced … so they say you shouldn’t add anything to their food. Your conventional veterinarian will likely say the same thing. But the truth is, the lab-made, synthetic vitamins in most dog foods just aren’t enough to nourish your dog.
Why Avoid Synthetic Vitamins?
Over time, your dog’s cell receptors can become clogged with these fake vitamins … and they stop working properly. Excessive synthetic vitamins in the food can even be toxic to your dog.
Fresh, whole food-sourced vitamins are complex. The body’s cells recognize them … so they use them much more efficiently than synthetics. But when your dog gets synthetic vitamins in his food, it can even reduce the absorption of healthful, whole-food vitamins.
Give Fresh Food Nutrition
Adding whole foods to provide natural vitamins and minerals lets your dog’s body pick and choose what it needs. So, to help your dog get extra, absorbable n, fresh fruits and veggies are great things to add to kibble.
Try adding some blended or lightly cooked fruits and vegetables to your dog’s bowl. This can meet two needs: the need for enzymes (as I explained earlier) … and the need for whole food vitamins.
Many dog owners also add other functional foods, like …
Organ meats are nutrient-dense foods for your dog. Adding a wide range of fresh organ meats is a fantastic way to give your dog more vitamins, minerals and amino acids. But it can be hard to find organs beyond liver or kidney. And there’s definitely an “ick factor” in those squishy raw organs (there’s a reason they call it “offal”).
If you can’t find a wide variety of fresh or frozen organ meats, you can buy organ meats in powdered form. Giving glandular supplements that contain several organ meats can really add a kick to your dog’s nutrition.
These foods can provide prebiotics, enzymes, whole food vitamins and minerals, and even fatty acids.
#5 Supplement Dog Kibble With Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Most kibble diets don’t contain healthful fats. Even if they’re on the ingredient list … they’re lost with heating and processing. In fact, processing can produce hydrogenated or trans fats, which can be very dangerous.
Most plant-derived fats provide omega-6 and 9 fatty acids, which are pro-inflammatory. But omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory. And there aren’t enough omega-3s in kibble. Kibble-fed dogs need to eat more omega-3s to provide a healthy anti-inflammatory balance.
Not surprisingly …. fish oil is what most people think of to give omega-3 fatty acids. But fish oil isn’t an ideal choice.
Problems With Fish Oil
Fish oil is very unstable and its quality varies tremendously. And rancid fish oil is worse to eat than no fish oil at all. Fish oil that’s already in kibble isn’t fresh, so it can be harmful for your dog. So it’s best to look for a kibble that doesn’t contain any fish oil and then you can add a good omega-3 fatty acid supplement just before serving.
If you open a new bottle of fish oil and it smells strongly fishy … take it back to the store. It’s quite likely poorly distilled and already rancid. So, if you’re using fish oil … buy a high quality product, keep it refrigerated, and add it fresh to kibble immediately before serving.
Other downsides of fish oil are that …
It contains toxins
It may contain radiation
Fish oil production is depleting the oceans
So here are some better ways to supplement dog kibble with omega-3 fatty acids.
Green Lipped Mussels (Or Oil)
The main anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats your dog needs are are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), ETA (eicosatetraenoic acid) and DHA.And these are all both plentiful in green lipped mussel oil.
Green lipped mussel oil is also more absorbable than fish oil, so your dog doesn’t need as much. And green lipped mussels are sustainably farmed in pristine New Zealand waters. So they’re safer for your dog … and other ocean creatures who depend on fish for survival!
Or, if you prefer to give your dog whole fish …
Sardines Or Other Oily Fish
Oily fish like sardines or herring can be a great way to give your dog some extra omega-3 fats. And canned fish are fine for this purpose. Buy skin-on, bone-in fish, packed in water, not oil … and preferably without added salt.
#6 Avoid Harmful Kibble Ingredients
When you buy any dog food, it’s important to become a label reader! Once you do, the list of ingredients on some foods may surprise you. Let’s talk about some ingredients to avoid.
It’s best to choose a food that’s free of artificial preservatives, corn, wheat, soy or dyes and legumes.
Artificial Preservatives
You can recognize artificial preservatives by the names BHA, BHT or ethoxyquin. There are reports that BHA and BHT are carcinogenic. Ethoxyquin, a preservative and pesticide, can damage kidney tissue in rats. So avoid foods with these ingredients.
GMO Grains
Corn, soy and wheat are usually genetically modified (GMO) crops. One problem with GMO grains is that they’re sprayed with pesticides like Roundup. So they’ll be high in glyphosate, which the WHO says is a “probable carcinogen.” And cancer isn’t the only risk. Glyphosate has been linked to kidney and liver disease, gastrointestinal problems and seizures.
Legumes
You’ll also want to avoid legumes (like peas, lentils, beans). These are often used in kibble as low-cost proteins. And they’re in “grain-free” foods as a starchy substitute for grains.
Legume crops are sprayed with glyphosate to dry them just before harvesting … so they’re even higher in toxic residues than grains. Legumes are also high in lectins. These are substances that can interfere with digestion, contributing to leaky gut syndrome, allergies and inflammatory bowel disease.
This isn’t to make you feel guilty … but before closing, here are a few reasons kibble isn’t the best choice for your dog.
Kibble is very high in starch. Dogs don’t need starch in their diet at all. It’s just what holds the kibble nuggets together! And it’s cheaper for the manufacturers than meat or fresh produce.
Kibble is “dead” food. That’s because it’s so highly processed and heated. Processing at high temperatures removes most of the nutrients from the food. So kibble manufacturers have to add synthetic vitamins and minerals to meet regulatory nutritional standards.
Kibble contains synthetic vitamins and minerals aren’t well absorbed by the body. And they can even be harmful long term. So if you do feed kibble, it’s best to find one without synthetic nutrients.
Kibble can contain many toxins. These may be carcinogens like heterocyclic amines and acrylamides caused by high heat and aflatoxin mold in grains or legumes. Or potentially carcinogenic herbicides like glyphosate. Studies show glyphosate in kibble is up to 130 times the levels in commercial raw food.
There are still thousands of pet owners who believe that kibble is a complete and balanced diet. But it’s missing critical nutrients. That’s why a fresh food diet is best. By following these 6 recommendations, you should notice a difference in your dog’s health and energy levels.
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms and they’re in the news a lot these days. And there are many different opinions about whether they’re safe or not.
There’s a lot of controversy about GMO foods. Some scientists claim that eating them is perfectly fine. But the truth? The companies that create GMOs (and stand to profit from their sale) are the ones backing the studies that say GMOs are safe.
A lot of independent scientists don’t believe GMOs are safe. Even though the US and Canadian governments have approved GMOs, a lot of other countries ban them. Many countries have banned the growing of GMO crops, including many in the European Union, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Other countries have restrictions on GMOs as well as labeling requirements.
And unless you’re taking conscious steps to avoid GMOs in your dog’s food, chances are he’s eating them, even if you’re feeding a homemade raw diet.
Keep reading to find out more about the safety of GMO foods and why they’re probably not a good thing.
What are GMOs?
Genetically modified organisms (or genetically engineered – it’s the same thing) are created when genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of another plant or animal.
Experts in favor of GMOs claim this is the same as cross breeding that’s been used for centuries, but it’s not.
Cross Breeding Vs Genetic Modification
Before we even get to cross breeding, let’s mention cross-pollination. That’s a completely natural process that happens when pollen is carried by the wind, insects or even water, and fertilizes another plant. The plants may be the same or sometimes different species.
Cross-breeding takes the natural process another step, with human intervention. Plant breeders choose specific “parent” plants for certain traits, and transfer the pollen to another plant to create offspring with attributes of both parents. These are often plants that couldn’t have crossed naturally – maybe from different regions or with different disease resistance traits. Cross-breeding is still a much more natural process than genetic modification.
In genetic modification, scientists take a single gene (or a small set of genes) and transfer it into a new genetic background to give the plant a completely new trait.
It sounds like it might be a good thing, but in practice, genetic modification is an artificial process that can affect foods’ nutritional values as well as their toxic and allergic effects. GM plants are often changed to be insect resistant, virus resistant, or herbicide tolerant, so there’s also an environmental impact.
Where Are GMOs?
Genetically modified crops include corn, soy, beets, canola, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, peas and alfalfa. You’ll recognize these as ingredients that are often in commercial pet foods. Experts say 70% of processed foods for humans contain GMO ingredients.
So, unless you’re feeding certified organic foods you can assume there are GMOs in your dog food. Even if the listed ingredients aren’t GMO, the animals used for the food’s meat ingredients probably ate GMO feed. And if you buy food at a grocery store to make your own raw dog food, the meat animal probably ate GMO ingredients too.
GMO Health Risks
There are significant health risks in eating GMO foods and quite a few studies have reported damage to organs.
A 2009 safety study by Dona et al found that GM foods can cause hepatic, pancreatic, renal, and reproductive effects and may alter hematological, biochemical, and immunologic parameters (1).
A study by de Vendemois et al compared the effects of feeding three different types of GMO corn to rats for just 90 days (2). They found toxicity primarily in the liver and kidneys. They also noted side effects in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and blood cells.
A 2-year feeding trial in 2012 reported that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 Roundup tolerant GM corn or given water containing Roundup developed cancers faster and died earlier than rats fed on a standard diet (3). Read more about glyphosate in pet foods below.
Several studies have shown that genetic modification can alter gut bacteria and how they behave in the digestive tract.
The insecticide Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) in GM corn has been shown to damage kidney cells and can cause leaky gut syndrome in infants.
Also, because the blood-brain barrier is not developed in newborns, toxins can enter the brain and cause serious cognitive problems. Some practitioners believe this is the mechanism for autism.
Health Issues From GMOs
There are many more studies, but in summary, GMO foods have been shown to cause:
Liver damage
Kidney damage
Damage to other internal organs such as the pancreas and reproductive organs
Changes in gut bacteria leading to leaky gut and immune system issues.
Endocrine disruption
Immune system damage
Digestive disorders
Skin and food allergies
Cancer
Cognitive issues
Autism (translating to behavior issues in dogs)
Common GMO Foods
An estimated 70% of processed foods contain GMO plants. It’s not surprising when you look at some of the top GMO crops.
The crops highlighted below are in many commercial pet foods. Even if you don’t see them on the label, GMOs are almost certainly in the meat that’s in most pet foods. That’s because a big percentage of these crops are in animal feeds eaten by cows, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, rabbits and even fish. So if you’re not buying organic, GMOs are almost certainly not just in your dog’s food but also in your own meat, fish and dairy products.
Corn is the #1 US crop. 88% of US corn crops are genetically modified.
Soy is another huge US crop and 94% is GM. You can find soy on ingredient lists under many different names: lecithin, hydrolyzed protein, monosodium glutamate (MSG), vitamin E, tocopherols. Many products with vegetable, plant or bean in the name (plus tofu, tempeh and textured vegetable protein) are all soy based.
Canola: about 90% of US canola is genetically modified. Canola (also called rapeseed) is everywhere: it’s used in cooking as well as biofuels.
Cottonseed may sound like something that couldn’t be in pet food, but cottonseeds are the source of many vegetable oils and they’re in animal feeds. 94% of cotton grown in the US is genetically modified.
Alfalfa is the fourth largest crop grown in the US and cows eat it. So it’s in our meat, milk, cream, yogurt and butter. There aren’t any figures for the percentage of GMO alfalfa crops because GMO alfalfa has (literally) gone wild.
A USDA study found that it’s growing on roadsides and other places it shouldn’t be. It’s a perennial crop so when seeds blow off trucks or are pollinated by bees, it spreads fast and comes up year after year. It’s a huge problem because it’s likely that organic alfalfa crops are also contaminated with GMO seeds. So you really can’t trust alfalfa.
Beets: you’ll often see beet pulp on pet food labels and 95% of US beet crops are genetically modified. 57% of sugar sold in the US comes from beets.
And watch out for zucchini, yellow summer squash and papaya: these are also major GMO crops!
GMO Labeling
Congress passed a 2018 bill requiring GMO labeling that take effect in January 2022. But the legislation has some major flaws:
Creating a federal law has overridden certain states (such as Vermont) that had stricter GMO labeling laws.
Producers don’t have to list GMO ingredients in plain English on the packaging, but can provide this information via a QR tag that you have to scan with a smartphone. That’s not very convenient for the average shopper. More than 100 million Americans don’t own smartphones.
According to the FDA, the definition of GMOs in the bill is written very narrowly and gives GM ingredients many loopholes. Many items are exempt from labeling and this means that many GMO foods can escape the requirements.
So, what’s a dog owner to do?
How To Avoid GMOs For Your Dog
One useful tool is the Non GMO Project. Their website‘s Product Verification Program is North America’s only third-party verification for non-GMO foods and products. Because they test for GMO contamination, it’s even stricter than organic certification. Here’s their page listing non-GMO pet products. They also list meat, fish and egg producers that are verified as non-GMO, as well as a list of participating retailers.
You can also look for the Non-GMO Project seal on qualifying products.
Glyphosate In Pet Foods
There’s one more thing to be aware of when it comes to GMOs in dog food. One major concern with GMO crops is the use of glyphosate (Roundup) in growing and harvesting these foods. Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide that a growing number of studies show is an endocrine disruptor, kills beneficial gut bacteria and damages DNA.
HRI Labs has tested many pet foods for glyphosate content. Testing shows …
Rawdog foods have very low levels of glyphosate – up to 5 parts per billion (ppb).
Canned and freeze-dried foods are 17 ppb.
But conventional kibble contains huge levels of glyphosate. It ranges from 200 ppb to 660 ppb (organic products are likely lower). That’s more than 130 times the levels in raw!
So If you feed your dog a kibble diet that’s not 100% organic, it’ll be very high in glyphosate. Glyphosate in raw diets is much, much lower. This is even true of raw diets containing factory farmed meats. It wasn’t just the organically or pastured raised or fully grass fed meats. Freeze-dried and canned foods are second lowest in glyphosate content.
Avoiding GMOs adds expense and complication to feeding your dog (and your family), but are the risks worth it?
The Importance of a Healthy Microbiome in Your Pet
If you have been a pet parent for years or even a few months, you have probably heard that gut health is essential to your pet’s overall health and wellbeing. But what does gut health entail? To understand how to maintain optimal gut health in your furry friend, an understanding of the gut microbiome and its function in the body is necessary.
What is the gut microbiome?
The microbiome consists of microbes that are both helpful and potentially harmful. Most are symbiotic (where both the animal’s body and microbiota benefit) and some, in smaller numbers, are pathogenic (promoting disease). In a healthy body, pathogenic and symbiotic microbiota coexist without problems. These microbes are foundational to health in that they facilitate proper digestion, produce vitamins and other nutrients, protect the gut lining and support immune system function. The gut microbiome is considered the “second brain” of the body; a whopping 80% of the immune system is found in the microbiome.
All animals need a strong microbiome to get all the nutrients needed from the food they eat. The gut is the “conductor to the symphony” in an animal’s body – it tells all the organs what to do. A gut microbiome becomes imbalanced when it is missing beneficial bacteria, has too many harmful bacteria, or does not have enough diversity in the types of bacteria. A dog or cat could be eating high quality, complete and balanced food and not get all the potential nutrition if the gut is imbalanced.
What causes microbiome imbalance?
Diet plays an essential role. The food and treats you feed your pet can support a balanced gut, or contribute to its imbalance. Highly processed inferior food, especially heat processed kibble, will result in an inferior digestion process. Dogs and cats eating kibble are more prone to inflammation, resulting in metabolic consequences. Lack of diversity in the diet can also play a role in gut imbalance. Your dog or cat should receive most of his nutrients from a fresh, whole food meal plan that contains lots of dietary diversity. Different proteins and plant matter will carry different strains of good bacteria to feed the gut.
Cats, in particular, were not meant to eat anything dry. The cat species originated thousands of years ago in Egypt – a hot, dry climate. Ancient cats received their needed fluid (along with many nutrients) through the blood of their prey. The anatomy of a cat (short intestines) does not lend itself to digestion of dry food. Cats who eat kibble, even though they drink water, will suffer from gut and kidney disorders.
Medication – The most common veterinary-related cause of bacterial imbalances in pets is the use of drugs that disrupt the microbiome, including the continual use of anti-inflammatories (both steroidal and nonsteroidal), the routine application or ingestion of flea/tick pesticides, chemotherapy drugs, and of course, overuse of antibiotics. A recent “State of the Gut” survey shows that only 50% of pet parents were aware that antibiotics had an impact on gut health. The database in this study found that one in three dogs and one in seven cats – both symptomatic and asymptomatic – had unhealthy levels of E. coli in their fecal microbiome sample, and that these animals were likely to have prior exposure to antibiotics and to experience chronic diarrhea.[1] Even occasional use of antibiotics can cause chronic microbiome imbalance and inflammation. When antibiotics are prescribed, they kill bad bacteria in the body, but they also kill many of the beneficial bacteria that live in the gut, on the skin, and in the respiratory tract.[2] Examples of infections that proliferate from antibiotic misuse include those of the skin, urinary tract, and respiratory system.[3]
Stress in both the pet and the pet parent plays a large role in gut health. Our pet’s emotions are very closely correlated to our own. Stress primarily affects the vagus nerve and sets off the “fight or flight” response in an animal. Energy needed for digestion is shifted to other systems to support a stressed animal. It is important for pet parents to take care of themselves before they take care of others.
What are symptoms of an imbalance in the gut?
The more common signs and symptoms include constipation, diarrhea, vomiting or regurgitation, increased and/or worse smelling flatulence, excessive drooling, reduced appetite, weight loss, blood, or mucus in the stools. Your dog or cat may be living with a gut imbalance and not show any outward signs and symptoms. Leaky gut, or dysbiosis, occurs when inflammation in the gut results in pathogens being released from the gut through the cells in the now permeable gut lining. The body will consider these pathogens foreign and try to attack them. Symptoms of leaky gut include itching and allergies, food intolerances, irritable bowel disease (IBD), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Untreated dysbiosis can also result in yeast overgrowth, acid reflux, histamine intolerance, and mast cell tumors.
How can I restore gut microbiome balance in my dog or cat?
Feed a diverse, whole food, species-appropriate diet low in starchy foods. Rotating proteins and diets are the best defenses against malnutrition and dysbiosis. Every pet absorbs nutrients differently. Meat purchased in one area may have a different nutrition profile than meat purchased several hundred miles away. Take note of how your dog or cat responds to the seasons…from a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) perspective, cooling foods such as duck, fish and rabbit can help with summer damp heat, while easy-to-digest, warming proteins such as chicken, lamb and venison can help to warm up the digestive system in the winter months.
Add prebiotics and probiotics to your pet’s feeding regimen and rotate them regularly. Prebiotics are a special type of fiber that feeds the good bacteria living in your gut. Examples of high-fiber whole food prebiotics include apple, banana, broccoli, and greens such as kale. If getting your dog to eat these foods is a challenge, use a well-researched, high-quality prebiotic that contains everything your dog needs.
Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to have health benefits when consumed. Probiotics should be given daily and rotated on a regular basis. Even when feeding a raw or gently cooked healthy organic diet, our pets are continually exposed to environmental toxins and the resulting stress will create a gut imbalance. The food we eat today is void of certain vitamins and minerals, and the nutrient profile will depend on the soil it was grown in. Different commercial probiotics will contain different strains of good bacteria. Probiotics that are compounded specifically for dogs and cats, as well as products containing wild strains of good bacteria are highly recommended. Product rotation will increase the diversity of good bacteria in the gut. Indoor cats especially need a probiotic for gut health. Cats in the wild get their good bacteria from natural sources by eating bugs and grass. Raw dairy products such as goat milk are an excellent source of probiotics, in that they contain beneficial bacteria passed from the animal.
Digestive Enzymes play a key role in breaking down the food your pet consumes. These proteins speed up chemical reactions that turn nutrients into substances that the digestive tract can absorb. The pancreas, gallbladder, and liver release enzymes; however, if the animal has a digestive disorder, the body will not make enough for nutrient absorption. Adding digestive enzymes to your pet’s food can help make up for the deficit.
Herbs – In recent years, research studies have shown the value of medicinal plants. Pharmaceutical companies are aware of this research and are trying to get a share of the market, but largely, through creating and manufacturing synthetic versions of medicinal plant elements. Nature offers the entire plant, and there are many benefits that are not incorporated into conventional medicine because it is manufactured to target one plant element. The body responds to herbs by using all available elements of the plant to get rid of bad bacteria without the side effects of traditional medicine. Herbs for the gut have a systemic reach, assisting the gut as well as the liver. The specific herbs used to heal the gut will depend on the symptoms of the animal and the specific pathogens causing problems. Cooling herbs like aloe (powder), slippery elm, and marshmallow root are best for animals with a warm or hot constitution. Yarrow is good for food sensitivities, prevents stagnation in the gut and can be given to animals with both a warm/hot and cool/cold constitution. Plantain helps good bacteria adhere to the gut wall and reduces inflammation. Warming herbs like St. John’s Wort calms reactivity and food sensitivities in the gut. Olive leaf extract is an antifungal and anti-viral microbiome balancer and can be used in the treatment of Ehrlichiosis. Turmeric is a great herb for yeast and leaky gut and helps detoxification. Ginger helps with all common gut issues, reduces nausea, and calms inflammation. Milk thistle is good for liver detoxification and anal gland problems. Nettles are good for kidney, gut and liver health and add needed minerals. Licorice root is neutral, good for all gut problems, and works with other herbs to increase their efficacy.
Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) is a procedure in which the fecal matter from a healthy donor is transplanted into an animal affected by gastrointestinal disease. Research studies about FMT application in veterinary medicine are few, but veterinarians that perform the procedure report substantial improvement in gastrointestinal diseases such as IBD.
Testing – Nutrient testing is a valuable tool. For example, animals with chronic GI disease are often depleted in vitamin B. Supplementation can help eliminate vitamin deficiency. Advanced home test kits can identify gut inflammation, leaky gut and other factors that contribute to gut dysbiosis. Fecal samples are sent to a lab for testing and evaluation. Some labs will go a step further and recommend steps to correct the microbiome imbalance. These tests can be used for animals with chronic issues to pinpoint the source of the problem in the digestive system. They can also be used in healthy dogs so that parents can be proactive in treating problems before they become advanced.
Cat and dog owners, while interested in the gut health of their pets, often find it challenging to navigate the wealth of information that is available. Maintaining gut health in your pet is as simple as feeding them a species-appropriate whole food diet (including treats), limiting the use of medications including antibiotics and flea & tick products, reducing stress, and minimizing exposure to toxic chemicals. These actions form the foundation of a proactive plan to keep our pets thriving with a balanced and healthy gut microbiome.
Florida Puppies 